1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to delivering messages to a messaging system, and more particularly to automating the delivery of messages when a receiving message mailbox is full.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most multimedia messaging systems today set a limit on the number of messages which can be stored in a receiving message mailbox (e.g., 10 or 20 voice mail messages). This is done to prevent the system's storage resources from being filled by a few high-volume users. If a message is addressed to a message mailbox which is already full, the message is returned to the sending mailbox. The same result occurs if a message is recorded in the sending mailbox and later sent to the full receiving mailbox. After the message is returned to the sending mailbox, the sender can either delete the message or manually retry to deliver the message. This manual retrying may have to occur again and again until the receiving mailbox is no longer full. Thus, the burden is on the sender to continue retrying to deliver the message.
Some networked messaging systems are programmed to automatically attempt to retry sending a message after that message has been returned from a full message mailbox. In this arrangement, an inefficient retry algorithm is used. The retry may only occur once at a later time, or the retry algorithm may cause the retry to occur every, for example, two hours until the receiving mailbox is no longer full and the message is accepted. In this example, unnecessary retries occur, and the timing of the retries may miss an opportunity for delivery. For example, if a message is deleted from the receiving mailbox and shortly after that another message is sent to the receiving mailbox by a third party, only a short window of time is available for the delivery of the originally returned message. The automatic retry will likely miss this opportunity.
It is desirable to have a system for delivering messages which does not rely on the sender's intervention. Moreover, it is desirable to have a system which efficiently automates message delivery to a receiving mailbox which is full. Finally, it is desirable to have a system which utilizes the full mailbox feature as it was intended to be used to preserve the resources of the messaging system and not to complicate message delivery for the sender.